


A Whole New World

by xtremeroswellian



Series: Before I Knew You [2]
Category: Roswell (TV 1999)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, High School, I miss these characters so much, Maria has creative nicknames for people, Michael and Maria's bantering, New Beginnings, Old school pop culture references, Pre-Series, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: The gang's first day of high school is a mixed bag of good and bad.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca & Liz Parker & Alex Whitman, Max Evans & Michael Guerin & Isabel Evans
Series: Before I Knew You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714129
Kudos: 1





	A Whole New World

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all references to "Mr. Raddish" and his fifth grade class are an acknowledgement of a lovely series of fics way back in the day that was titled "Roswell Elementary" and was written by Kara and Emily. Gracie is also theirs and I had permission to borrow her. If you can find these fics somewhere, you'll be in for a treat. They're very sweet and adorable. 
> 
> If a couple of these teachers resemble teachers I myself had at some point in life, well. They only have themselves to blame for that. Just saying.

Liz Parker stood in front of West Roswell High, staring up at it. It was 7:45 in the morning and in fifteen minutes she'd have to actually go inside.

"It's pretty big."

She turned and smiled at Kyle Valenti, who was standing next to her. "Compared to the junior high, it's huge."

"Nervous?" he asked.

"A little," she confessed, looking back at the school.

"It won't be as bad as you think."

She looked over to see a girl she didn't recognize standing a few feet away. The girl was pretty, with shoulder-length, straight, light blond hair and green eyes.

"I'm Mary French," the girl said, smiling warmly.

Liz smiled back, liking her immediately. "I'm Liz Parker, this is Kyle Valenti."

"Nice to meet you." Mary motioned to the school. "It's really not as big as it seems once you get inside."

"What year are you?" Kyle asked.

"This will be my junior year." She looked from Kyle to Liz. "What classes are you guys taking?"

Kyle reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. "Basic English, study hall, world history, driver's ed, shop, Algebra I and p.e."

"English I college prep, computer science, Intro. to chemistry, p.e., psychology, Algebra I., and world history," Liz told her.

"Wow. That's a heavy load for your freshman year," Mary commented.

"Liz loves school," Kyle said with a grin.

Mary smiled back. "Who do you guys have for Algebra I.?"

"Miss Johnson," Kyle answered, looking at his schedule.

"Oh." She frowned.

Liz and Kyle exchanged a look. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Let's put it this way...have you guys ever seen the movie, 'Teaching Mrs. Tingle?'"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex Whitman chained his bicycle to the bike rack and stood up, looking at the school building.

"I don't know about this."

He turned to see one of his best friends looking at the school with doubt written on her face. "It'll be fine, Maria."

Maria DeLuca sighed. "I hate change."

He draped an arm around her shoulder. "At least we have three classes together. It won't be so bad."

She leaned her head against him. "I wish I could believe that."

Alex heard the tremor in her voice and looked down at her. "You're really nervous about this, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?" Maria retorted. "Alex-this is like...the beginning of the end, you know? I mean, in four years, we'll be graduating and the three of us will go our separate ways and we'll probably never see each other again, and--"

"Whoa, whoa, just stop." Alex put his hands on her shoulders. "Four years is a long time from now. And if and when we do go our separate ways, we're still gonna be friends and we'll still see each other, okay?"

Maria met his eyes and relaxed a bit. She took a deep breath. "Okay."

"We'll get through this together. One step at a time." He put his arm around her again.

Maria looked across the school yard and scowled. "I bet she's not nervous," she said bitterly.

Alex followed her gaze and saw Isabel Evans and two of her friends walking towards the school. He couldn't supress the grin that formed on his lips at just the sight of her.

Maria poked him in the ribs.

"What?" he asked innocently.

She just shook her head.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure I look okay?" Gracie Cohen asked, glancing down at her sleeveless blue silk shirt and short black skirt.

Isabel rolled her eyes. "You look fine," she replied for about the tenth time in fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, relax, Gracie," Tish Okabe said. "Don't be so nervous. It's not like this is going to be that different from the junior high, anyway."

Isabel held her head up and kept her face expressionless. Nobody needed to know she was nervous about her first day of high school.

She was secretly glad that Gracie and Tish were in a different class than she was first hour. Five more minutes of listening to Gracie whine about her appearance or Tish trying to pretend she wasn't nervous when she was trembling and Isabel would scream. Tish didn't do a very good job at pretending to be something that she wasn't.

Isabel, on the other hand, was a pro.

She crossed the lawn and headed towards the stairs that lead up to the building. That's when she spotted Alex Whitman with his arm around Maria DeLuca, who looked more nervous than Gracie and Tish put together.

Alex looked over at her and Isabel smiled at him before ascending the steps. She hadn't been in many of his classes since Mr. Raddish's class four years ago. She wondered briefly if she'd have any classes with him this year.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Guerin slid into a seat in the back of Mrs. Bugg's first period college prep. English class and looked over at Max Evans. Max had pulled out his binder and was already prepared to take notes. He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Max was like his brother, but he could be such a dork sometimes.

He leaned back in his seat, propping his feet up on the seat in front of him and closing his eyes. He hadn't even bothered to bring a bookbag today. It was the first day of school. Like they were actually going to do anything.

"Bye," he heard a familiar voice say in the hallway. Michael opened his eyes and nodded at Isabel as she came in the room and sat down in the seat in front of Max.

"Hey, Michael," Isabel said.

"Well, that doesn't sound good, Lizzie," Maria DeLuca said nervously, her voice low as she walked into the room with Liz Parker and Alex Whitman.

"Okay, we haven't even been to her class yet. She can't be that bad, Maria," Liz assured her.

"You did say 'Teaching Mrs. Tingle,' right? I mean, I've seen that movie a few times, and let me tell you, that teacher was one nasty--"

"All right, just relax," Alex said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Liz is right. We haven't even met her yet, so let's not worry about it until then, okay?"

"Okay, you're right." Maria took a deep breath and the three of them moved across the room from Michael, Max and Isabel and sat down.

Michael watched Maria from his seat. She was tapping her fingers on the top of her desk and taking deep breaths as Liz and Alex tried to distract her from her thoughts. He blinked as he realized that now 3/4's of the desks in the room were taken up, and Mrs. Bugg was standing at the front of the classroom, writing something on the chalk board.

A moment later, she turned and faced the class. She was a short, older woman with short strawberry-blond hair that was turning gray, and gold, no-nonsense framed eye-glasses. She stood and took a minute to look at each individual student as if she was assessing each of them individually and deciding which ones were going to be the trouble makers.

Her gray eyes narrowed when they rested on him. She pursed her lips and stared at him.

Michael kept his arms folded across his chest and stared right back at her.

Her gaze dropped to his feet that were resting on the desk in front of him. Then she met his eyes again.

He put his feet on the floor and she almost smiled. Then she motioned to the board. "My name is Mrs. Bugg, and that's how I expect to be addressed. I will have learned all of your names by the end of this week." She looked around the room. "This will not be an easy coarse. I expect each of you to do your work and turn it in on time. Late work is unacceptable. I expect you to all be present for each test that I give, and I expect you to study for each of them. Three tardies and you have detention. Stay in your seats unless you're given permission to leave. Listen when I explain things, and when I'm talking, and I'll give you a chance to ask questions and speak your turn.

"Are there any questions?" She looked around the room again. "All right then. We'll start by handing out books." She walked over to the bookshelf and motioned to a huge stack of literature books, grammar books, and vocabulary workbooks. "One row at a time please come up and get one of each book."

Michael leaned back in his chair, bored, and waited until his row got up. Then he followed them up and picked up a set of books, and returned to his desk.

Mrs. Bugg asked which book numbers each of them had and recorded them.

The bell rang. Michael and several others stood up to head for the door.

"Sit down, class! I dismiss you, not the bell."

He scowled.

"For your assignment tomorrow read the first chapter of your grammar book and do exercises one through five, and read and do the exercises for chapter one of your vocab workbook. You're dismissed."

Michael walked to the door with Max and Isabel. "That was a joke right? She didn't actually just give us homework on the first freakin' day?"

"I don't think it was a joke, Michael," Max said doubtfully.

"She was serious," Isabel informed them. "I've heard stories about her. She loves to pile on the homework and rarely gives anyone a grade above a C+."

Max and Michael exchanged a look as Isabel wandered off to find her next class. Michael shrugged. "I don't really care anyway. It's not like high school's that big of a deal. Especially not to us."

"Michael, you are going to do your homework, right?" Max asked, sounding worried.

He shrugged again. "We'll see. Later, Maxwell."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isabel chewed on her lower lip and scanned the room numbers. She was supposed to have study hall in room 415C. Which was fine and great except she couldn't find the stupid room. She glanced at the hallway clock. She had exactly two minutes to find the classroom or she was going to be late to class on her first day of school.

The hallways were emptying fast, and there wasn't anyone left that she knew that she could ask where the room was.

"Are you lost?"

Isabel turned around and found herself facing a pretty girl with shoulder-length, straight blond hair. "Yeah. I'm looking for room 415C."

"Ah, the study hall room. I know where that is. Come with me, I'll show you." The girl smiled at her. "I'm Mary French."

"Isabel Evans." She followed the girl down the hallway.

"Are you a freshman?"

"Yeah, pretty obvious, isn't it?" Isabel asked, embarrassed.

"Don't worry. It's your first day. Everyone's a little lost. The numbering system in this place is confusing even to those of us that have been here a couple years. It's like when they numbered the rooms they deliberately trying to confuse everyone. Even the teachers and faculty get lost on occasion. This one time, Mrs. Horne, the world history teacher, wandered around the halls lost for three whole days."

Isabel laughed.

"Well, here's the study hall room," Mary told her, motioning to the door.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

Mary smiled at her. "You're welcome. If you need anymore help, I'll be around." And then she turned and disappeared down the hall.

Isabel slid into an empty seat in the back just as the bell rang. She glanced around the room and saw a few familiar faces, including Alex Whitman's. He was sitting in the desk right next to her. "Hi, Alex," she said quietly.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Isabel, hi."

She smiled.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maria had followed a sophomore from her second hour world history class to her third hour art class. She'd overheard his conversation about having Mr. Stuart next and the name had rung a bell in her mind. Sure enough, when she'd checked her schedule, that was the name of her art teacher.

So far she hadn't gotten lost.

She'd been lucky.

Maria dropped down into a seat at one of the empty tables and set her books on the floor. She hoped the hour would go by quickly. She had gym next period with Liz and Alex. She was anxious to see them again. She was also glad they were only in school half a day today. Because it was going to take her that long to do the stupid English homework Mrs. Bugg had assigned.

And what was with her anyway? No teacher ever assigned homework on the first day of school. It just wasn't right.

Suddenly someone slammed down a pile of books on the table and she looked up. Michael Guerin sat down across from her. "There's no other place to sit."

Maria bristled. So sitting by her would've been his last choice? "Nice to see you, too, Michael," she said sarcastically.

He didn't reply, just slouched down in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and scowled.

Great. This was going to be a fun class.

Not.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max saw her the second he stepped into third period chemistry class. She was sitting in the first seat of the second row, ready to take notes. She looked gorgeous, as usual, wearing a pink tank top and an ankle-length black skirt. Half her hair was piled on top of her head, and the other half pooled around her shoulders.

Liz Parker was surely a goddess walking the earth to torment him.

He swallowed hard. This was the second class in three hours he had with her. Either he was incredibly lucky or fate was smiling down on him. Or both.

The irony was that it didn't matter. He never had a chance with Liz.

They were different.

In the not-of-the-same-species sort of different.

He sighed and sat down two seats away from her.

Oh, well. He could always dream.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz hovered somewhat nervously around the gym door. Several students she didn't recognize milled around the gymnasium and waited for the p.e. instructor.

Just then Alex walked in the door. He looked relieved. "Man, am I glad to see you," he said with a grin.

"That makes two of us. I don't know any of these people."

Alex glanced around. "Me either. Oh, wait. There's Isabel," he said, his smile widening.

Liz rolled her eyes.

"Liz! Alex!"

Liz turned at the sound of Maria's voice. "Hey, I wondered where you were."

"Yeah, me too. This school is way too big," Maria replied.

At that moment, Michael Guerin strolled through the door and walked right past them, ignoring them completely.

"I take it back. This school's not big enough."

Liz and Alex exchanged a look. "What do you mean?"

"Michael Guerin is in three of my classes so far," Maria told them, making a face. "Oh, and have either of you looked at the homework Mrs. Bugg assigned?"

Liz shook her head. "Why?"

"Because it's going to take, like, six hours to get it all done."

"Hey, Liz."

Liz looked up and saw Mary French wave at her as she walked by. "Hey, Mary."

"Who's that?" Maria asked once the girl was out of earshot.

"Oh, she's a junior. Her name's Mary French. Kyle and I met her this morning before school started. She seems really nice."

"You and Kyle?" Maria repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we ran into each other outside."

"Oh, and I suppose that was a total--"

Maria was cut off by the sound of an eardrum-piercing whistle.

Liz's hands instantly covered her ears and she whirled around.

A beefy man stood in the center of the room wearing a white shirt and camouflage pants, a silver whistle between his lips. His hair was cut very short, like a crew-cut.

Liz had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Is it just me or does that guy scream drill sergeant?" Alex whispered.

"It's not just you," she agreed softly, afraid to raise her voice and draw the man's attention.

"Listen up. Especially all you freshman maggots!"

Liz stared at him.

"Who the hell is he calling a maggot?" Maria demanded, glaring at him.

"Shh," she warned.

"For the next 9 months, you are my slaves when you come to this class. You will work like you have never worked before and do you know why?"

She had a sudden urge to yell, "No, Sir!"

"Because I don't like fat people!" He glared at all of them. "My name is John Reedy. You will address me as Mr. or Coach Reedy or Sir when you speak to me, and you will do as I say no questions asked!" He pointed to the free throw line of the basketball court. "Everyone lineup on the double!"

Liz looked at Maria and Alex who were both gawking at him in disbelief. She quickly grabbed their hands and pulled them forward until they were standing in line. Liz was first, then Alex, then Maria.

Reedy began at the other end of the line, demanding to know people's names and asking if they were going to cause him trouble.

I don't think he has to worry about anyone causing him trouble, Liz thought as she watched him yelling at a scrawny kid halfway down the line.

She recognized a few other faces now. Max and Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin, Mary, and one of Kyle's friends, Tommy Mattheson.

A moment later, Reedy was yelling at the guy on her other side. She tensed involuntarily and she felt Alex move a fraction closer to her, as if to reassure her, to protect her if needs be. Then he was right in front of her. She swallowed hard as he glared at her. "What's your name?" he demanded.

"Liz Parker," she said.

"Are you mute? Speak up!" he ordered.

"Liz Parker," she repeated, louder this time.

"Are you going to cause me problems, Parker?"

She began to feel as though she was being interrogated. "No, Sir."

He continued to stare at her and she felt her face grow hot. She fixed her gaze on the far wall. "Good! Because I hate people who cause me problems!" He glared at her intensely. "Am I embarrassing you, Parker?"

Beside her, Alex coughed loudly. A forced cough. He was trying to get Reedy's attention off her. It worked. His gaze finally left her face and flickered over to Alex's. She exhaled silently, but remained tense, feeling the tension in Alex's body, and imagined Maria was probably feeling it, too.

"Your name!" Reedy barked.

"Alex Whitman, Sir!" he said loudly.

"You're going to be a trouble-maker, aren't you, Whitman?"

"No, Sir."

Reedy's gaze traveled to Maria. "What's your name?"

"Maria DeLuca."

"Who's in charge of this class, DeLuca?" he demanded.

"You are."

His eyes narrowed. "I am what?"

Confusion crossed Maria's face. "In charge of this class."

"No! It's 'you are in charge of this class, SIR!'" Reedy boomed, moving his face level with Maria's. Then he stalked to the center of the gym again, pacing back and forth. "You will all wear gray shirts and black shorts to this class everyday! If you forget your gym clothes, you will run 10 extra laps in addition to how many we do that day! No jewelry, no gum, no food or drinks are allowed during gym class. There will be no sitting out because of PMS or whatever other lame excuse you might come up with! If you don't show up on time--if you're even one minute late, you will do 50 extra push-ups, sit-ups or jumping jacks while the rest of the class watches. Are we clear?"

Liz feebly chorused, "Yes, Sir," along with the rest of the prisoners...er, students.

The bell rang.

"Thank God," she murmured.

"Okay, did it feel like we were just drafted into the army to anyone else?" Alex demanded as they hurried out of they gym, trying to put as much space as possible between them and Reedy.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say so far, I really hate high school," Maria said miserably.

"Well, look at it this way. The day can't get much worse, right?" Liz asked hopefully.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miss Johnson glared at the class. "Anyone who doesn't want to be here is free to leave right now."

Alex knew that was a bad sign. He took a deep breath and glanced at Maria and Liz, who were sitting in the row next to him, and the three of them exchanged looks.

And for a second, he actually considered getting up and leaving. But he didn't.

"I'm not here to be your friend. I don't like students who suck up. I'm here to teach you algebra. If you miss class, get notes from someone else and come to me for missed assignments. Late work is never acceptable under any circumstances. During class you will keep your mouths shut unless called upon. If you're talking without permission, I'll assume you're cheating and you will lose all attendance and homework points for the day."

Alex leaned back in his chair. He didn't like too many of his teachers so far. It was like they were all possessed by evil spirits or evil aliens like in that movie "The Faculty."

But Isabel Evans was sitting three seats away from him, so that was a big plus.

Nonetheless, Alex was thrilled when the bell rang. Only one more class to go and the day would be over. He couldn't wait.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, what do you think of high school so far?"

Liz turned to see Kyle Valenti grimacing. "That frown pretty much sums it up."

"Yeah, looks like we're all going to face Mrs. Tingle together, huh?"

Liz smiled. "Looks like."

He grinned. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Oh, um, no. But thanks for the offer. I'm waiting for Maria and Alex."

"See ya tomorrow, Liz."

"Bye, Kyle." Liz watched him get in his car and drive away.

"Has this day sucked, or what?" Maria demanded, dragging her bookbag on the ground behind her.

"At least it's over," Liz pointed out.

"Yeah, but we only had a half day today," Alex said, walking up to them. "Tomorrow it's a full one."

"A full one filled with English assignments, boot camp and algebra with the dragon lady," Maria grumbled. "Oh, and just for the record, I told you so."

Liz and Alex exchanged a grin. "Why don't we got to the Crashdown and work on our English homework?"

"Is there ice cream involved?" Maria asked hopefully.

"Of course," Liz assured her.

"What are we waiting for?" Alex draped an arm around each of their shoulders and they headed away.

Liz was thankful they'd all survived their first day of high school. But she wasn't entirely convinced that they'd be so lucky the next day.


End file.
